Photoelectric document tester using light beams of complementary color



April 1, 1969 J. E. BAYHA 3,436,552 PHOTOELECTRIC DOCUMENT TESTER USING LIGHT BEAMS 0F COMPLEMENTARY COLOR Filed Jan. 5, 1966 SOLENOID SOLENOID 72 POWER SENSING SZSUPPLY l cmcun' FIG. 1

I III/IIIIII Ill lirrlrr R H M 1 1R 42 42 42 i 42 BALANCED BRIDGE CIRCUIT ACCEPT V 53 PROPER UNBALANCE BALANCED-W0 SIGNAL FIG. 2

INVENTOR.

JACK E BAYHA ATTORNEYS United States Patent F 3,436,552 PHOTOELECTRIC DOCUMENT TESTER USING LIGHT BEAMS 0F COMPLEMENTARY COLOR Jack E. Bayha, Chesterland, Ohio, assignor to Transmariue Corporation, Chesterland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Jan. 3, 1966, Ser. No. 518,107 Int. Cl. G01n 21/30 U.S. Cl. 250-219 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for paper security validation which utilizes light passage through the security with different colored lights so that the light passage characteristics of the different colored lights can be compared to determine validation. Specifically, the invention calls for passing one color of light similar in color to the color of the security, and another color of light complementary to the color or the color of the security. The passage of these particular lights is then compared to determine validation. The unique feature of the invention is in realizing that different colored lights will react in different total absorbing characteristics with respect to the actual color of the security being validated.

This invention relates to a color distinction apparatus for paper security validation, and more particularly to a unique concept utilizing illumination of various colors passed through a security whereby either a similarity in light passage characteristics, or predetermned differences in light passage characteristics will properly authenticate and validate the security being tested.

Heretofore, it is well known that there have been many and various attempts to validate paper securities, both paper currency and stock certificates. Some of these techniques and systems have been very accurate and reliable. The instant invention, however, is adaptable for incorporation with existing light passage or light reflecting systems to thereby provide a second validation test which is extremely simple, yet highly effective and reliable. For example, the principles of this invention may readily be incorporated with the validation system described in the co-pending application of James K. Phares, Ser. .No. 405,666, filed Oct. 22, 1964 now Patent No. 3,360,653, and entitled, Apparatus for Authenticating Documents in the Performance of Vending Functions, which application is also assigned to T ransmarine Corporation.

Therefore, it is the general object of the present invention to incorporate a separate, simple, yet highly reliable security validation system which may operate alone, or in combination with existing systems to quickly, easily and inexepnsively achieve a second validating apparatus for paper securities.

The general object of the invention if accomplished by providing in an apparatus for authenticating paper securities the combination of means to receive, hold and position a security for validation within a testing area, means to project green light onto one portion of the security, and red light onto another portion thereof, while it is in the testing area, means to measure the amount of red and green light passed through the respective portion of the security, and means to determine whether the measured amounts of light passed through the security are substantially the same or unbalanced to a predetermined amount.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic view partially in section 3,436,552. Patented Apr. 1, 1969 showing the apparatus and control circuits of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view of the diagrammatic components of FIGURE 1 taken on line 2-2, but further indicating in block diagram form the circuit associated to measure the light passage through the bill properly.

The term paper money has been largely used heretofore in reference to the article or articles to be identified by the testing apparatus of this invention, but this term is intended to include paper currency of all sizes, denominations, and countries of origin, and in addition to bonds, documents, other paper, textile or colored articles which might be subject to test for genuineness, weave, composition, color, etc, However, the apparatus of the invention is primarily designed for the determination of genuineness of United States paper money in low denominations. For example, one dollar, five dollar, and ten dollar bills. In order to shorten the designation of the article being tested, as called for hereinafter, it will be designated in the drawings as a bill and will be so described in the specification.

With reference to the form of the invention illustrated in FIGURE 1 of the drawings, the numeral 10' indicates a bill changing apparatus supported by a packaging frame 11, only a portion of which is indicated in the drawing. A substantially horizontal guide rail 14, secured to the frame 11, guides a bill slide 12 to an in and out position. To provide clearance for the movable bill slide 12, the dimension of the slide in the direction normal to its movement is slightly less than the height of the guide rail 14. The guide rail 14 is formed with a longitudinally extending groove 18. The slide 12 contains a bill chamber 20 adapted to receive a bill 22. The bill chamber is formed by a bill support plate 24 and a bill cover 26, which has an outwardly extending lip 28 that serves as a handle for the operator. The cover plate 26 has a forwardly extending ear 30 which receives a pivot pin 32 to mount the cover plate 26 on the slide 12. When the cover plate 26 is opened, the lower surface of the ear 30 functions to position the bill 22 accurately in the bill chamber 20.

The support and cover plates have a plurality of spaced concentric bores 34 which extend through the plates in a direction normal to the movement of the slide. The plates contain at least one bore in each corner portion thereof which are utilized to provide a first test on the size of the bill, as more fully set out hereinafter. A large number of the bores 34 provides the apparatus with inherent versatility since a large number of different portions of the bill can be comparatively tested to determine the authenticity thereof.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the slide 12 is in the in position. In this position, the bores 34 are in alignment with matching bores 36 in a plate 38. The plate 38 is secured to and spans the lower portion of the guide rail 14. A circuit board 40 positions a selected number of light sensitive photocells 42, such as photo diodes or photoresistors in the bores 36. As explained above, the circuit board 40 positions at least one cell in each corner bore and six cells in selected 'bores over the surface of the bill. The number of cells, the electrical characteristics of the separate cells, and the relative locations can be varied in accordance with the unique requirements of the document being tested.

Movement of the slide 12 to the in position trips a microswitch 44 to apply power to a plurality of lamps 46 supported in a housing 48, while at the same time supplying power to a transformer of a power supply 52. The housing 48 is positioned above the slide and directly over the bores of the plate 38. The light energy from the lamp 46 reflected by the housing 48 passes through the bill 22 3 in the bill chamber 20 and then strikes the light sensitive photocells 42. The resulting electrical characteristics of the individual cells is a function of the intensity and color of the light thereon.

In order to provide the unique color validation characteristics of the invention, the housing 48, as best seen in FIGURE 2, is provided with sloping sides 48a and 48b, respectively, in the longitudinal direction relative to the bill 22 received in the bill chamber 20. The under surface of the slanted slide 48a is covered with a reflective green coating 49, while the underside of the sloping side 48!) is coated with a reflective red covering 51. While the coatings 49 and 51 may be simply painted onto the underside of the surfaces 48a and 4812, respectively, the invention contemplates that suitable red or green backed mirrors, or even the use of red or green tinted colored glass filter over the lamp 46 on the proper sides, would also be acceptable. It is important, however, that the red color be relatively complementary to the green ink utilized in printing United States currency. Similarly, the green color should be substantially the same as the green color utilized in printing the bill. Any other suitable color combinations could be used to achieve either a difference in the amount of light passage on separate parts of an authenic bill or a balance of the light passage on separate parts of an authentic bill. The same technique can also be accomplished with reflection of the colored light off the bill, rather than passage through the bill.

The authentication of the bill 22 is achieved because the photocells 42 under the red reflective surface 51 will receive less light since the reflective red tends to combine with the green used in the bill to make the black, which is less readily detectable by the photocells 42. The green from the reflective green surface 49 tends to combine with the green in the bill and is of a lighter color so the light passage detected by photocells 42 on that side will be substantially more. This difference can be readily predetermined by trial or mathematics, and looked for in suitable circuitry to provide authentication or not, dependent on a balance in the light signals received on the both sides, or a difference. For example, it is well known that some of todays copying equipment can 'very accurately copy paper curency. However, this copying will not produce copies in the different colors, and hence, use of a reproduction will not pass the color test explained above, since the colored light passage on both sides of this type of copied bill will be substantially the same, so no difference signal will be detected.

One suitable way to utilize this difference signal would be with a balanced bridge circuit 53 which would, in effect, send out no signal when a substantial balance of the light energy was received by the photocells on opposite sides of the bill 22, and hence this would indicate a reject of the bill being validated. On the other hand, if the unbalance of light energy reached a certain predetermined level, it would indicate accept, and such an accept signal could actuate payout, or could be sent to further actuate the remainder of the circuit, as more fully described below. Thus, it should be understood that the validation test described above could be the only test in a system, or could be used in combination with more sophisticated light passage tests described and claimed in the above-identified patent application, and more fully set forth below.

It may be desirable, in some instances, when using the reflective coatings 49 and 51, or colored glass surrounding the lamp 46, to positively separate the impingement of the red and green illumination onto the specific portions of the bill desired. To this end, a bafl le 55 mounted to the housing 48 extends to close proximity adjacent the top surface of the slide 12 so as to be sure that only red or green light impinges upon the desired areas of the bill through the aligned bores 34 and 36. Naturally, as more fully described below, it may be desirable to have this colored light passage through only a few of the many .4 and randomly positioned aligned bores 34 and 36, with white light passed through the remaining bores, although this is not necessary to achieve the remaining validation characteristics of the circuit described below.

In order to remove the bill 22 from the bill chamber 20, a roller 54 driven by a motor 56 is journalled on the frame so that the upper portion of the roller extends slightly below the leading portion of the bill 22. An idler roller 58 journalled on a lever 60 pivoted to the frame is positioned above the leading edge of the bill slightly forward of the axis of the roller 54. A solenoid 62 connected to the free end of the lever 60 by a spring 64 moves the idler roller 58 into engagement with the leading or forward edges of the bill to pinch the bill between the rollers 54 and 58. The application of torque to the roller 54 by the motor 56 pulls the bill 22 from the bill chamber 20 into a bill chamber 66. The solenoid 62 is actuated through a line 72 from a relay circuit 74 and reciprocates the lever 60 to move the idler roller 58 into and out of an opening 68 in the bill slide 12.

In a similar manner, a solenoid 76, controllable by a signal from a relay circuit 74 over a line 78, is adapted to position a plunger slidably supported in the frame 11 to lock the slide 12 in the in position. An extensible, flat coil spring 82, having one end thereof secured to the slide 12 and the coil portion thereof secured to the frame 11 functions to return the slide to the out position.

The control circuit power supply 52 is conductively connected to a switch by means of a conductor 92. The switch 90 is operated by movement of the bill slide 12 to the in position. Conductor means 94 connects the switch 90 with a sensing circuit 96. The sensing circuit 96 is connected to at least some of the light sensitive cells 42 and to the relay circuits 74 which is electrically coupled to the motor 56 by a conductor 98. When a bill has been properly removed from the bill chamber, the sensing circuit 96 sends a payout signal through the conductor 100 to the relay circuit 74. The payout signal energizes one of the relays in the circuit 74 to supply a power payout signal to a coin vending mechanism, indicated generally by the numeral 102, and more specifically to a payout solenoid 104 associated therewith. Actually, the payout signal could operate any other desired mechanism.

The coin vending mechanism 102 contains a coin ejection knife 106 which is moved in operative position by the solenoid 104 against the force of a pair of tension springs 108. Upon de-energization of the solenoid 104, the springs 108 function to eject the coins in front of the leading edge of the knife 106 to a vending trough accessible to the operator (not shown).

In order to de-energize the solenoid and reset the relays in the relay circuit 74 upon actuation of the payout signal, a normally closed switch 110 may be opened by a linkage 112 when the solenoid is fully energized to thus effect the de-energization.

A thermal overload switch 114 may be positioned in the conductor 116 to the coin solenoid circuit to break the circuit to the solenoid when the energization to the motor 56 exceeds a predetermined time. The switch contains a pair of bimetal contacts 118, and a heater 119 associated with the drive circuit to the motor 56, all in a conventional manner for a thermal overload switch.

Therefore, it should be understood that the objects of the invention have been achieved by providing either red or green, or other colored lights for passage through a bill to be tested, with a variation in the amount of light passed because of the different colors providing authentication. It is important that one of the colors of light used be of substantially the same color as certain printed portions of the bill, while the other colored light be substantially complementary to the printed color in at least certain portions of the bill to produce an achromatic mixture when combined. This means the amount of light passed or reflected from these portions will vary, and if this variation is within the predetermined range, it would indicate a valid bill. This authentication is either used alone, or in combination with an authentication such as the sensing circuit 96 to effect a payout as desired. Normally, the color test will be used in conjunction with the light passage test of the sensing circuit 96 and thus the accept signal from the balanced bridge circuit 53 in FIG- URE 2 will actually feed into the sensing circuit 96 to show that a proper authentication on the color test has been obtained.

While in accordance with the patent statutes only one best known embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that the invention is not limited thereto or thereby, but that the inventive scope is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for authenticating paper securities, the combination of means to receive, hold, and position a security for validation a testing area,

means to project a first colored light onto one portion of the security which is complementary to the color on that portion of the security, and a second and difierent colored light onto another portion thereof which is substantially the same color as the color of said other portion thereof while it is in the testing area,

means to independently measure the intensity of the first colored light and the second colored light passed through the respective portions of the security, and means to determine whether the measured amounts of light passed through the security are substantially the same or unbalanced to a predetermined amount.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 where the security to be tested is a paper currency printed with green and black ink on White paper, wherein the second light is a green color of substantially the same color as the green color of the paper currency and the first light is a red color being substantially a complementary color to the green color of the paper curency.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 which includes bafile means to positively separate the first colored light from the second colored light projected onto the separate portions of the security.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 where the means to determine the amount of light passed are photocells, and which includes a balanced bridge circuit receiving the output of the photocells to issue no signal when the amount of the first colored light and the second colored light is substantially equal, and to issue an accept signal when the amount of the colored light passed varies according to a predetermined standard.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 which includes means to pass white light through random portions of the security, means to measure the amount of White light passed through random portions of the security, and means to authenticate the security depending upon the amount of white light passed through the random portions after the security has been authenticated by the colored lights.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,203,036 6/ 1940 Van Briessen et al. 88-225 2,941,187 6/1960 Simjian 250-219 3,109,100 10/1963 GecewicZ 250219 RALPH G. NILSON, Primary Examiner.

MARTIN ABRAMSON, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

